Over 60 US organisations call upon the President of India
to halt the work on SSP right away

Over 60 organisations in United States, including environmental, labour,
consumer, theatre, women's, peace, minority and human rights' groups, have
written to the President of India, Mr.K.R.Narayanan to immediately stop the
construction of the dam, using his special powers, guaranteed by the
Constitution of India. In a letter sent out yesterday (14th Nov.) they have
called upon the President to:

protect the lives of adivasi communities by immediately halting
construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

ensure complete resettlement and rehabilitation of the thousands
already affected by the reservoir, canal system, construction site and
other related project infrastructure.

constitute an independent commission for a complete, participatory
review of all aspects of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

The letter further says, "This ruling (of Supreme Court) comes despite
overwhelming evidence that the project will cause environmental degradation
and jeopardize the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people,
including a large proportion of adivasis (tribals). The project was cleared
although no credible environmental studies or rehabilitation plans were
ever completed.

"The majority judgment claims that "a properly drafted [resettlement and
rehabilitation] plan would improve living standards of displaced persons
after displacement" and has given project authorities four weeks to draw up
a plan for the 200,000 people to be displaced by the reservoir. A plan was
supposed to have been completed by 1981, as per the Narmada Water Disputes
Tribunal Award. It is not credible that the authorities who have failed to
produce a credible plan in 20 years can complete one in a month's time".

On the violations of Environmental norms during the letter said, "Despite
overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the majority judgment by Justices
Kirpal and Anand states that "experience does not show that the
construction of a large dam is not cost effective or leads to ecological or
environmental degradation. On the contrary there has been ecological
upgradation with the construction of large dams." This opinion flies in the
face of a huge corpus of evidence showing the massive environmental impacts
of dams in India and around the world".

"In his minority judgment, Justice Bharucha has pointed out that
construction has been pushed forward in systematic violation of legal
requirements for environmental clearances".

Urging the President to Stop Construction immediately, the made it clear
that the, "..... it is clear that any further construction of the Sardar
Sarovar dam will have grave consequences. It is imperative that immediate
steps be taken to safeguard against the blatant violation of the right to
life and livelihood of the many adivasi communities in the Narmada Valley.
Otherwise, a serious human tragedy will develop in the coming monsoon as
homes and fields of thousands of families will be flooded".